Surfers Brave Huge Waves To Practice For Mavericks

HALF MOON BAY (CBS SF) -- With a high surf warning in effect in the Bay Area, some brave surfers were taking to the water to face some mighty waves in preparation for the Mavericks big-surf contest.

Some of the waves were reportedly cresting as high as 40 feet.

"I think the brain stops processing past a certain height," said surfer Brian Woods. "You just look down and go, 'It's real fun.'"

Mavericks surf competition founder Jeff Clark said as much as the high waves are exciting, they're not exactly ideal. Some of the best surfers in the world are in the water here, but are reluctant to catch the unruly waves.

"The energy is just violent," said Clark. "The bowl out in the Mavericks today is violent and, if you're in the wrong place, you're going to have to get rescued."

Mavericks contest organizers on Thursday tweeted that, while the waves at the famed break would be impressive, they were not large enough to issue a call for the big wave riding contest.

Clark says one of the surfers was injured Thursday. Garrett "GMAC" McNamara -- who made headlines recently for riding a 100 foot wave in Portugal -- separated his shoulder. He was in a tremendous amount of pain.

Later in the afternoon, the water smoothed out a bit. Chopper 5 captured this image of two seemingly synchronized surfers riding out a giant wave.

"I give it like a 7 or so," said surfer Peter Lundgard. "Pretty gnarly."

"They're trying to just pick off one or two of these waves," said Clark. "Because to go out there and tap into the energy of a 40 foot wave? Man, that charges your battery for a while. Until the next big swell."